A great deal of multimedia information is available over the Internet. This information may comprise for example audio information in the form of music files or Internet radio stations etc., video information, or text or graphical information. Such multimedia information is hereinafter referred to as “playable content”. To enable a user to consume playable content, the user's computer must be provided with a content player, that is a program capable of reading the downloaded playable content and displaying or otherwise outputting the playable content in a form accessible by the user. A content player may only be able to play a particular format of playable content, for example audio files using a specific compression system, or may be operable to play content of any one of a number of different formats. The playable content may be completely downloaded prior to playing, or may be continuously supplied by a content provider, a process known as “streaming”.
It is desirable for a content provider to be able to track consumption of playable content by a user, for example for subsequent charging.
An aim of the invention is to provide a new or improved of controlling content consumption.